Elected

Former Fluor Corp. CEO Alan Boeckmann has been elected to the Sempra Energy board of directors, bringing a background in international business management in the engineering/construction sector. Boeckmann is a director of BHP Billiton and a board member of the National Petroleum Council. He also serves as the nonexecutive chairman of the board at Fluor, where he held several senior management and operating positions before becoming CEO in 2002.

A debate over how to regulate the nascent Marcellus Shale industry in Maryland is progressing more subtly than similar debates in Pennsylvania or New York.

The natural gas industry needs to improve its image in Pennsylvania, and sitting down with elected officials and environmental leaders might be the best way to begin that process, according to former Gov. Tom Ridge, now a strategic adviser for the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC).

The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) on Thursday elected a new leadership team to helm the executive committee and announced the addition of almost three dozen associate member companies.

February natural gas futures rose Friday as traders showed little appetite for risk and elected to cover short positions prior to the long holiday weekend. Short-term traders see little likelihood that the market will continue higher. At the close February futures rose 7.3 cents to $4.480 and March gained 7.1 cents to $4.490. February crude oil added 14 cents to $91.54/bbl.

One of two problematic liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal proposals in Oregon took a step backward when a newly constituted local county elected board voted 4-1 to rescind approval for a pipeline that would connect Oregon LNG’s proposed terminal along the Columbia River at Warrenton, OR, with the metropolitan Portland area.

New Mexico’s newly elected Gov. Susana Martinez has nominated former astronaut and U.S. senator Harrison Schmitt as the state’s secretary for Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources. The governor’s announcement follows a decision to dismiss the state’s environmental board tied to a cap-and-trade proposal. Schmitt is charged by the new governor to “harness and develop” energy sources in New Mexico as a means of reviving the state’s sputtering economy and creating new jobs. Schmitt’s nomination is subject to confirmation by state lawmakers. He said he will work with the governor to “enhance New Mexico’s potential” as “a leader in energy and natural resource development.” With an undergraduate degree from the California Institute of Technology and a doctorate degree from Harvard University, Schmitt earned an Air Force jet pilot’s wings in 1965 and Navy helicopter wings two years later. He participated in the National Aeronautical and Space Administration’s scientist-astronaut program beginning in 1965, and provided support for the Apollo 11 mission, before flying into space as part of the Apollo 17 mission. He landed on the Moon Dec. 11, 1972.

New Mexico’s newly elected Gov. Susana Martinez has nominated former astronaut and U.S. senator Harrison Schmitt as the state’s secretary for Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources. The governor’s announcement follows a decision to dismiss the state’s environmental board tied to a cap-and-trade proposal in the opening days of her new administration (see Power Market Today, Jan. 10).

Arkansas should increase its severance tax rate on natural gas production, including production from the Fayetteville Shale, to help pay for road repairs in gas producing areas, said Sheffield Nelson, former CEO of Arkla Inc., the state’s largest gas company. Nelson was among those who pushed for the state’s last severance tax increase three years ago.